Tavern Yerevan — Restaurant in Yerevan

This restaurant came highly recommended by one of the staff at our hotel, and our driver. Let us start with the cons:

The cons The only item that tasted good on all the things we ordered was the fish. The fried kinkali was not as good as the steamed one. The grilled pork was hard/taut and did not taste good. You are better off trying the grilled pork dishes at Yerankyuni near the Casfejian complex. The lamb was also taut. Our attendant, Bahkshik, forgot to serve our second bottle of Pepsi, probably due to the confusion that we added another pitcher of compote at the same time. He served the compote, but not the second bottle of Pepsi, and we had pictures of our table so we know that there was only one bottle of Pepsi that was served. Because I was already hypoglycemic, my boyfriend poured half of his Pepsi bottle in my glass while we were waiting for them to serve my own Pepsi bottle, which perhaps made them think that they already served all our drinks. Other than that, the rest of what we ordered had been served. Some of their staff kept staring at us. I thought Yerevan or Armenia in general is used to having foreigners visit their country, but the stares from some of the staff, especially Jora, says otherwise. They kept looking at us while we were eating as if it is their first time seeing foreigners. And this is not the look that just wants to make sure if we needed something. They were really staring for no reason. Other staff, like Bahkshik, would just glance at our table momentarily to see if we needed something. He was just doing his job. He definitely did not stare creepily like Jora did. It made us really uncomfortable. During payment, Bahkshik had already left (probably due to shift change) and Jora handed us the bill. We politely reminded him that the second bottle of Pepsi was not served and we asked him to remove it from the bill. He insisted that HE did serve it (he kept insisting this even if he was not our attendant earlier, it was Bahkshik). Jora even called another staff who speaks better English (I think her name is Katrina) to further insist that the second bottle of Pepsi was served. When we told her that "okay, fine, we do not want any hassle for a little thing so we will just pay it to save time and get out of here", Katrina responded by saying "I am just translating what he said". People, if you are not going to make the situation any better, do not get involved. If you are not the deciding person, do not get involved, because you will be useless in the situation. Jora just asked for an interpreter, not someone who can rectify the bill, like the manager. He did not even check properly with the bar if the item was actually served, he just insisted. This completely ruined the experience for us, because where we came from, customers are always kept satisfied. Piece of advice: Any guest who can pay for 36,520 dram for food at your restaurant would certainly not lie or cheat about not receiving a 400 dram bottle of Pepsi. Keep that in mind. And if you think customers may not always be right, keep them satisfied anyway, so they will keep coming back to you or recommend you. Otherwise, you will always lose your tip for ruining their experience and insisting to be paid a measly 400 dram for something you did not serve.

The pros We were seated right away, even if we did not have any reservation. I think we also arrived at a time when the restaurant was not packed yet. The steamed kinkali was good. The fish was good. It was cooked to perfection without drying it up. Our attendant, Bahkshik, is very jolly. He even took a selfie (groupfie) with us when we asked him if he could take a photo of us. When Bahkshik left (probably due to shift change), Vaje was very helpful when we ordered warm drinks to go with our dessert after our dinner. He suggested products that he thought we would like better than what we originally picked. He also communicated...

We ordered a beetroot salad, greens/herbs, some elaborate dish baked enveloped by bread and kyufta (labeled as tenderloin, but more akin to a meat loaf)

All the food was presented quite nicely and the waiter even cut open the bread-covered dish on our table as if serving some Michellin-star dish. And it makes sense, for it both looked great and tasted great.

As for the rest of the dishes, the beetroot salad tasted very basic. Not great compared to many other beetroot salads I have had. The kyufta was… underwhelming. I had honestly not expected much, but was overwhelmed by curiosity as to what this dish was, named something quite similar a very different dish “kofta”, while being labeled as “beef tenderloin”, yet looking nothing like it. So maybe it was my own fault, but I was not happy with it. At least I had all the herbs to make it more appetizing, but it was not great.

Prices were decent. Seems to be quite average for the area.

The service was a mixed bag. The staff generally seemed quite great and the main waiter, who served our table, was quite kind and even joked a little (seems to be rare for the region), yet both he and other waiters would generally avoid us or look the other way, when we tried to make eye contact (especially when we wanted to pay the bill). Then, when we were about to pay, another waiter stepped in. His attitude was very arrogant and far from friendly. My card declined as I tried scanning it. He muffled, grunted, said something in incredibly broken English and I tried to use the chip instead. He wiggled my card around furiously and still said something in disgruntled, muffled English. At least I brought cash and we could pay with that. (It turned out there was a spending limit on my bank’s side (for non-EU countries) that I exceeded at the moment I wanted to pay) The way he handled the situation made me feel quite odd and I really did not want to run into that person again. So, in the end, most staff seemed ok, but one staff member was awful.

Also, they gave us a water and soda on the house, which...

Best soup and service

Was there twice. It is a case to get in because they are always busy. This place has the highest customer rating(4.8) in the town centre.

Nrani - is my best option. It is pomegranade soup with lamb meat.

Meat dishes are pretty. Size of portion is might.

Also they have own bread factory and bread always was fresh.

Service is quiet good but with some mistakes.

They accept both cash and card payments even after 6 p.m.

You should be noticed about extra charges - 10% for service and 200 amd for music if you book a table in the music hall.

So in conclusion my rate is 5 because it is proper Caucasus place also because nothing disappointing...